


Nemesis

by AirbornAnomaly



Category: Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight
Genre: F/F, Frustration, Rivals, Sexual Tension, vengeance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-16 02:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15427482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AirbornAnomaly/pseuds/AirbornAnomaly
Summary: Claudine spends every hour of every day thinking about her archenemy: TENDOU MAYA. An anthology of shorts.





	1. Telephone

**Author's Note:**

> This story might be amended later on if my characterizations aren't as accurate as I hope. I think my Maya is too sassy.  
> That's the price you pay when you hop on the ship in the first five minutes of a show.

“Mon amour,” Claudine purred into the mirror as she affixed her headband careful. “Tu es belle. Tr é s magnifique, mademoiselle.”

She felt so beautiful, in fact, that she gracefully plucked her phone off the vanity counter, adjusted the angle just right, and snapped a quick photo of her stunning visage in all its glory. Claudine knew she was gorgeous, naturally, but something about this day made her feel elevated. She inspected the photo she took and grinned. Voluminous blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, dainty nose angled towards the left (the best position for a nose), bright eyes glimmering with the slightest tilt down, and a smile that would sell a postcard. She was unmatched.

_ No you aren’t. _

She shook her head and growled back the intrusive thought. Today was a good day. She considered who to share this picture with but only one name would ever emerge from the ocean of her thoughts. Capsizing her mind and flooding the deck, tossing her over and over until she couldn’t help herself from sinking into the black depths. Drowning, she whimpered.

“Tendou Maya.”

No name would ever sound so eloquent, no other syllables ever slide over her lips in such an impassioned plight. Her nemesis. The only woman to ever stare down Claudine Saijou and stare back, challenging the dominance of the ego and imposing the will of the oppressor. Truly, she loathed this woman. This curse. What satisfaction it would bring to take her down a notch on this day, when she felt so blessed to be alive.

Claudine snickered but pretended she didn’t as she scrolled to the top of her text conversations and found the longest chat record. She sent the picture and waited. The Woman was so positively obsessed with her that she wouldn’t have to wait long. It was sad, really, how deeply Maya Tendou desired an audience with Claudine. This picture would probably be the highlight of that poor girl’s day. Her phone buzzed and Claudine scrambled to see the reply.

_ #2 in all things _ : Do you wish to upset my stomach?

Claudine huffed and her fingers flew, but before she could reply an attachment was sent. She narrowed her eyes and clicked on it.

Her phone hit the floor with a thud and she gripped her shirt, forcing her heart to calm. Her head felt light and her knees trembled. The beginnings of sweat dotted her brow. The last time she was this mad was the day before, when Maya Tendou had the nerve to wear a short skirt to their daily scheduled time to scowl at each other. A low gutteral sound left her throat as she bent to pick up her phone and poison herself once more with scandal.

She held back the gasp as she once again lost herself in the infuriating side-glance of her adversary. Maya Tendou was looking sharp as ever, with her long silky hair flowing down the chasm of her back, the contours of which could not be seen but Claudine had memorized in detail for the rage they imbued her with. Her eyes, God her eyes. Filled with envy and pride and locked to Claudine’s in a way that no other creature on the planet had yet to match. She could feel the tendrils of wanting spread from those eyes throughout her body from the way Maya Tendou’s picture stared at her, surely jealous of the immense talent contained in the intended receiver of this portrait. Flawless skin seemingly sparkled in the light of the sun, and full lips tilted downwards only slightly enough to demonstrate the animosity they shared as rivals.

Claudine shivered with vengeance. If this impudent fool wouldn’t submit to her through imagery, she would have to dazzle her with words. She saved the picture and clicked the call button. The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Claudine frowned, and grimaced, and scowled. Finally, the line clicked.

“ _ Hello. _ ”

“Bonjour, harpy. I hope your day is filled with disappointment, as always.”

“ _ Hello? _ ”

Claudine pouted. “Hello? Can’t you hear me?”

“ _...Hello? _ ”

“MAYA!”

“ _ Don’t scream, Claudine. This is just my voicemail. I knew you would call and I knew how you would answer. I am in your head at all times, filling your thoughts with my perfection. Wallow, Claudine, in the sins of regret as you know, now and forever, that I will ALWAYS best you. Leave a message so that I can laugh at the sound of your second place voice. I’ll see you soon. _ ”

Claudine was frozen. The voicemail beeped, waiting for her message, but so paralyzed was she that a whole second and a half was wasted on open-mouthed shock. An admittance of defeat, she knew. She raised a fist to the heavens and screamed with the light of holy vengeance stoking the furnace of her soul.

“TEEEEEENNDOU MAAAYYAAAAAAAAAAA!”


	2. From Hell's Heart (In the Showers)

“Fall in, girls.”

The 99th class began lining up. Claudine took her spot and spun in place, finishing her flourish by pushing out her chest and smiling proudly. Tendou Maya, the scourge of her existence, the light that started the fire in her heart, simply took her place next to her and looked straight ahead. The fire rises once again and Claudine burns. Her enemy was making sure to emphasize their height difference. What Claudine would give for a few more centimetres. Then Maya’s head would have to fit perfectly in the crook of  _ her _ neck for once. That would teach her.

“Tomorrow we’re going to do a mock scene exercise,” their teacher explained. “Make sure to be at your best, it’s great practice.”

“Don’t forget to wear extra make-up tomorrow, Tendou Maya,” Claudine whispered. “You don’t want to be embarrassed in front of the class when you have to stand on stage with me.”

If she heard, Maya gave no acknowledgement. Claudine’s lips thinned into a hard line as the teacher continued speaking. Surely she spoke loud enough? Were her words so scathing that her rival was unable to return them? She expected more from someone of Maya’s caliber. Was something wrong with her? Claudine’s brow creased with concern.

“Class is finished for the day, hit the showers,” their teacher concluded.

Claudine turned to find her nemesis staring down at her. She paled, wondering what degenerate disease had infected her mind in the few seconds she spared pity for this contemptible creature.

“At least make-up makes me look better. Unfortunately for you, genetics cannot be mended so easily.” Maya brought a hand up and slid it along Claudine’s clenched jaw. The lithe fingers were like sandpaper over her smooth skin, grinding down and finding new layers every time they repeated this common gesture. If only Claudine was taller,  _ she _ would be the one brushing her beautiful hand across Tendou Maya’s shapely jaw line, painting a picture down her delicate neck and climaxing at the tip of her gorgeous collarbone.

She shook her head of her treasonous thought to find she was alone in the classroom. She huffed and stomped off to the showers. Sure enough, The Woman was there once again, hands burrowed into her silky hair and eyes closed as she bathed.

_ She tasks me. _

Claudine removed her leotard as gracefully as expected and entered the empty shower stall next to the only other woman she would expect to bathe next to. She did not fail to notice the lidded eyes of the devil watching her dainty movements as she performed, and allowed herself a smirk as she turned the water on.

_ She tasks me, but I shall have her. I’ll chase her across the stage of starlight until final curtain call before I give her up. She belongs to nobody but me, and I belong to nobody but my revenge. I will not rest until she has been beaten; driven before me on trembling knees and begging for mercy. _

“Are you monologuing again, Claudine?” Maya asked from the stall next to her.

Claudine laughed and bent down to scrub at a spot of dirt on her ankle. “Would you like to know, Tendou Maya? Do my thoughts concern you? Plague you? Do I have that much of an effect on you?” As she stood back up she was met with an unwavering scrutinizing glare. Claudine faltered a bit and hoped her face didn’t show it. “What?”

“You’ve gained weight.”

All of the chatter in the showers stopped, and all eyes turned towards the pair currently locked in their daily shower argument. This was a new development from the usual posturing and glaring. The 99th class, for the first time in a while, was interested in where this was going to go.

“I have  _ not  _ gained weight,” Claudine spat back. “Whatever would give you that idea?”

Maya smirked. “I know your body, Claudine Saijou. Your thighs have gotten bigger.”

Claudine choked and shut off the water of the shower, lest more enter her gaping mouth. “They have not!”

“When was the last time you stepped on a scale?”

“That doesn’t matter!”

“I believe, in this instance, it does,” Maya argued smugly. She shut off the water of her own shower and stepped out of the stall. Claudine jumped out of her stall and jammed a finger in her face before she could reach her towel.

“My thighs have not gotten bigger, and even if they did, they would come nowhere near the width of your tree trunks!”

Maya slapped the finger out of her face and stepped closer, their bodies mere centimetres apart. “You admire my shapely legs. You wish yours would exude as much feminine beauty as mine.”

“I admire nothing about your misshapen body!” Claudine lied. “You admire my tight curves and toned muscle.”

“Toned?” Maya scoffed. “ _ You _ are the one who has gained weight here.” She attacked, pushing Claudine against a stall door and pressing their wet bodies together. She reached around with both hands and grasped Claudine’s rear. There were multiple gasps.

“Tendou Maya!” Claudine screeched, her face darkening. “Unhand me!”

“This is far less firm than the last time I had it in my hands,” Maya argued. “And you try to tell me you haven’t gained weight.”

Claudine sputtered, starved for words to fight against the bane of her desire. She couldn’t let her win so easily. She grit her teeth and growled, bringing her hands up and gripping Maya’s shoulders tight enough to dig her nails into the skin. 

“To the last, I will fight you. From hell’s heart, until I spit my last breath, I will always be in opposition to you. Know me, Tendou Maya, for you will never forget the reckoning I will bring down upon your soul. I am your beginning and your ending. When this is through, all you know shall be me.”

A wicked smile cursed the enemy’s face as she leaned close enough to taste Claudine’s breath.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Tendou Maya whispered.

As if on cue, the girl’s released each other and stepped away, reaching for their towels. The locker room watched them dry in silence until chatter slowly started to fill the room back up. Claudine was slipping on her pants when she heard a soft voice behind her.

“Keep that weight on.”

She spun around in fury and caught the back of her fully dressed nemesis retreating from the locker room. She slammed a fist into her locker and screamed with the passion of a dying star, willing to destroy its system to end the agony of existence.

“TEEEEEENNDOU MAAAYYAAAAAAAAAAA!”


	3. "Acting"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one written before episode 3 came out. With some minor dialogue editing, I think this came pretty close to their actual dynamic.

The time had finally arrived.

“Everyone get into partners!” the teacher called, her voice raising as the girls of the 99th class scrambled to find someone quickly. “One partner come grab a script at random!”

Claudine stepped forward, not allowing Tendou Maya the satisfaction of picking the script. She grabbed the first script on the pile and walked over to her archenemy.

“I knew you would grab the script,” Maya said. “Thanks, Claudine. You’re very organized. I hope you’ll help me more in the future.”

An image stole its way into Claudine’s mind of herself sitting at a desk. She wore a tremendously stylish button down blouse and a tight pencil skirt that accentuated her God-given gifts. The phone on the desk rang and, to her absolute horror, the caller ID read ‘Ms. Tendou.’ She answered the phone and that seductive voice purred directly into her skull, taking a stranglehold of her inhibitions and breaking the dam of her composure.  _ “Cancel my appointments today, I’m spending the rest of the afternoon inside of you.” _

She growled and tossed the script down. Thankfully, it landed on a desk right next to the pair. Unfortunately, this was not the first time such perverted thoughts violated her sensibilities. That damned woman was ruining her, and she needed to fix that. “Make no mistake, Tendou Maya, I grabbed the script so that I would be able to pick my part first.”

Maya nodded. “Of course. It’s only fair.”

Claudine glared into evil eyes. Those full lips quirked into a smirk cloaked in a smile and Claudine found herself grinding her teeth once again. She spoke without thinking. “I hate you. I hate you so much.”

Maya blinked and Claudine swore she saw some foreign emotion cross her face. Something she hadn’t seen before, and she knew Maya’s face like she knew nothing else. Her rival coughed, a rare showing of humanity, and straightened her posture. “What am I performing with you today?”

Claudine frowned, but continued normally. “I will be performing the part of Dorian Gray, dazzling the audience with my splendour.” She picked the pile of messy papers off the desk and handed Maya a script. “You will be Basil Hallward, and get lost in the stage.”

Maya nodded her agreeme-

“New idea!” their teacher suddenly yelled from her place at her desk. The girls looked over. “Let’s do a cold read! Who wants to go first?”

The collective groan of the 99th class was heard across the school. Half of the girls struggled to read scripts the first time, and to expect them to act at the same time? They all knew there was only one pair truly prepared to pull off this task. Claudine proudly stepped up to bat, Maya standing next to her just as strongly. Their teacher sighed.

“Anyone else want to try for once?” Silence. “Fine. Tendou, Saijou, get on stage and set your scene.”

_ It’ll be Saijou and Tendou after this _ , Claudine vowed as she climbed the stairs up to the small stage at the front of the class. She imagined the scene and overlaid the empty stage. The two cheap chairs became elegant chaise longues, the plain floor was blanketed by an expensive Persian rug, and above the blazing hearth was a large portrait that reflected her immaculate visage. At this point in the story, her eyes were dark and her smile wicked in the portrait, the complete opposite of her eternally youthful self. She glanced down at the script to mark her beginning and waited for her rival to begin with the first line.

“When did this all begin?” Maya asked. Claudine blinked. That wasn’t her line.

“I’m sorry?”

“The two of us. When did we start?” Maya continued. Her tone was clear and projected powerfully. She was certainly in character, but not the character she was supposed to be playing. Claudine had never once seen her nemesis adlib. Was she doing this to ruin her? Trying to catch her off guard? Someone as debased as Maya Tendou wouldn’t beat her at such a trivial exercise. Claudine stepped up to bat.

“It’s always been the two of us,” Claudine replied, her voice low and uneven. She imagined her character as a proud person with a short fuse and anxiety from her shortcomings. It seemed like a good compliment to whatever Maya was doing. “I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t the two of us. What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s  _ everything _ !” Maya roared. Claudine’s eyes shot open. Some girls in the audience gasped. Claudine broke character to glance at the teacher at the back of the room. She looked just as confused as expected. “Look at me!” Claudine’s gaze shot back to The Woman, who was much closer than before.

“Who would you be without me?” Maya postured. She slid lithe fingers across Claudine’s jawline and narrowed her eyes. Claudine felt her heart skip a beat. She reminded herself to go see a doctor since that had been happening a lot recently. “This isn’t enough for someone like you. Minstrel shows and popularity posturing? Without me, you would stagnate. I give you purpose.” She leaned forward, her lips brushing Claudine’s ear. “I make you feel.”

Claudine was incredibly confused. Nobody would even be able to hear that last line besides herself. She was being played with. Again. She snarled and pushed her demon away.

“That’s quite the opinion of yourself!” Claudine fought back. “You think that my existence depends on something as pointless as you? Who would you be without me? I keep you on edge. I’m the constant threat peering around the corner. I’m the spark that lights your fire. You wouldn’t even exist without me.”

Maya pushed back into her space and grabbed her by the shoulders. Someone in the audience swooned exaggeratedly. “Exactly! I need you, and you need me. I  _ am _ you and you are me. Forget the rest of this garbage. We don’t need anything but each other.”

Claudine couldn’t help but be impressed, even though she hated to admit it. This was a pretty good adlib. She hoped somebody was writing it down. Deciding to get into the spirit of romantic tragedy and play it up, she grabbed Maya’s face with both hands and stared half-lidded into her eyes.

“You know that you’re what I want, but we can’t just give everything up for each other.”

Maya smiled painfully. It was really spectacular acting and Claudine knew that, once again, she was being beaten. The hands on her shoulders tensed and squeezed. It kind of hurt. “Do you really feel that way? You told me you hate me.”

Claudine saw the tear slip out of Maya’s eye before she felt it on her hand.

_ Oh. _

This was real. This was happening. In front of their entire class. Claudine’s face burned, but she reached a thumb up to wipe the next tear before it could fall. The act was gone but her voice came out more naturally than she could have dreamed.

“What do you want me to say?”

Maya’s smile returned. “The truth.”

The words came to her, but Claudine refused to say them. They didn’t make sense. She bit her lip. Maya kissed her.

Claudine couldn’t hear the shocked cries of the audience over her heart pounding in her ear. She kissed back. What else was she supposed to do? Maya was rough with her, forcing her back down every time she tried to gain a solid footing. The hands on her shoulders tightened even further and she winced. This kiss was a lot more dominating than their other ones, not that this was a common occurrence or anything. Once every few days in a fit of rage was normal for rivalries of such intensity. Maya forced her tongue into the picture and the horrifying wet smacks of their saliva mixing reminded her that she was frenching her arch-enemy in front of their classmates and a teacher. She would stop, but that would mean defeat. She couldn’t lose another battle in such a short time frame.

“Everyone out!” she barely heard their teacher yell. “The volcano is finally going to erupt!”

The sounds of scraping chairs and phone camera notifications accompanied the sensation of Maya’s hands exploring the small of her back. Claudine kept kissing back. Her body moved as if possessed, fighting against every instinct in her mind that screamed at the top of her lungs.

TEEEEEENNDOU MAAAYYAAAAAAAAAAA!


End file.
